Certain commercial aircraft are provided with electrochromic dimmable windows (EDWs) instead of mechanical pull down window shades. EDWs include electrochromic devices that change light transmission properties in response to voltage and thus allow control over the amount of light and heat passing through.
The EDW may attach to window clips on the aircraft's main windows. A reveal encompasses the EDW and may lock into place on sidewall clips.
The EDW and reveal may be removed many times during the life of an aircraft. They may be removed several times during aircraft manufacture (e.g., for customer inspection), and they may be removed periodically during aircraft maintenance to clean dust, debris and moisture between window panes.
Removal of the EDW and reveal is performed from inside an aircraft's cabin. The sidewall clips, which hold the reveal to a sidewall panel, are disengaged, and the reveal is withdrawn from an opening in the sidewall panel.
A large commercial aircraft might have at least 85 reveals, where each reveal is secured with at least six sidewall clips. Given this large number of clips, quick disengagement of the sidewall clips is desirable.
Safe removal of the sidewall clips is highly desirable. Damaging a sidewall clip during removal of the reveal is costly. The cost of a replacement clip is trivial. However, the cost of down time is not. Down time is needed to expose the sidewall panel and bond a new clip to the sidewall panel. Down time is very costly to an aircraft carrier, as an idle aircraft results in lost revenue.